Natural Sausage Casings

Once upon a time in a galaxy far away there used to be this thing called a "butcher shop." In addition to meat, butchers would usually also have in stock natural sausage casings for people who wanted to make their own sausage at home. Evidently butchers no longer exist, or at least they don't in the DC area. Can anyone suggest a place in DC or its environs where I could walk in, say, "Would you by any chance have any sausage casings for sale?" and not be met with a vacant stare?

Try Eastern Market in Capitol Hill. There are a couple of real butchers there who make sausage on-site. Union Meats sells all kinds of products, like chitlins, skirt and hangar steak, venison, that are difficult to find elsewhere. What I have had a heckuva time finding in D.C. is fresh pork belly or uncured pork fat for making homemade lard. I finally brought some back with me from NYC after a recent trip--found what I was looking for at a Polish ham and smoked meat shop on 1st Avenue.

Thanks for the suggestion. I already went to each of the butchers in Eastern Market, and unfortunately they all said they didn't sell them, because either they buy their sausage from someone else or they make them in another location. They didn't seem receptive to the idea of bringing some in for me.

French Market sells them and so does Dean & Daluca in Georgetown - ask the butcher/meat counter. We buy them there all of the time......althought the first time the general staff looked quite confused at our request.....ask for the meat/butcher manager.

Try Waghal's...They're out on Mass Ave, NW, in Spring Valley (about 4 blocks inside the DC line). They're regularly rated one of the top butchers in town, and I think they make their own sausage. You could try Sutton Place Gourmet, too, but Wagshals will be a better bet. Greg

Well, Paul Spillenger checked out my trusty source for natural sausage casings, Dean & DeLuca, and came up dry. I checked myself yesterday, and sure enough, the butcher noted that they no longer order the casings. Because...........Dean & DeLuca no longer makes their own sausages at the Georgetown outlet, they buy them some place else.

Go internet! I get mine from http://www.yeagerspice.com/CYCasngP4.htmbut prefer the collagen (manufactured from natural animal protein) as they do not have to be soaked before use - straight from the frig to the stuffing horn.